The Brass Key

After an early morning flight to MKE, all we wanted was a greasy diner breakfast - and Aunt Deb knew just the place!This spot is divey, yet all the things I would expect from a Wisconsin diner joint. A cutesy interior - with wood paneling, plenty of booths and tables, kitschy linens and drapes - and the food is BOMB. We were seated at a corner booth, instantly brought over coffee and water and looked at the massive menu. I love diner food, so I opted for a loaded omelette with a side of crispy hashbrowns and toast - while my husband opted for traditional breakfast of two eggs (over easy), hashbrowns, toast, and a side of their famous pancakes. Everything tasted deliciously fresh, greasy and just what the doctor ordered. YUM!!Our server had the entire space to herself and handled it like a pro. She checked back with us often, consistently had our waters refilled and brought boxes without us having to even ask!Pricing is CHEAP. Like WOAH. Our whopping total came to just above $30 for 3 people with coffee and our entrees. I'm in love!When back in MKE, I WILL return!

My lamb shank was tender but I didn't care for the gravy it was in. What really left a bad taste in my mouth were the lies from the staff. We had a big party and took up two long tables. The waitresses (one to each table) were polite, until it came to the bill. One waitress said the first table could get their individual bill. The other waitress said we had to pay on one bill and that we had to round it to where there are no cents included. It took us a while at the restaurant to figure out the bill. Once I complained at the checkout about the difference of payments, both waitresses said the waitress for the first table charged two people for the entire bill. When I returned back with my family, they said they each received their own bill. I would have been ok paying on an entire bill if that's what is expected, but I am not ok with being lied to. Never going back.

I really think this place is underrated. Our friends go there often and know the servers. We sat at the bar and enjoyed a few cocktails before dinner. I had an old fashion. It tasted good but was a weird color It was pretty read and they did not muddle it. However we started off with soup. I had the chicken dumpling and it was the best I ever had. The others in our group had creamy broccoli and they all enjoyed it. I had the Greek salad. Loved the salad dressing. The others had the fried chicken. It was crispy, juicy and flavorful. My friend did say you have to know what to order. I do think the menu is way too big. Cut it down and quality would be better on all food. Service was good. We will definitely be going back to try other things.

The soups were excellent. The decor is from late 80s with the mauve color. We ordered the lobster tail and fillet and it didn't mention that it was bacon wrapped which was a nice surprise unless you don't eat pork. They didn't mention that the fillet and steak would have mushrooms on top, which my wife and mother in law loved but I'm allergic and can't eat them. The waitress said " can't you pick them off" which I did but I asked for A1 sauce to kill any flavor of mushrooms and they gave me a knock off cheaper brand. The alleged butter for dipping our lobster tails was anything but real butter which I find to be SAD since this is the dairy state. Because I loved the soups I will give them another chance on their Greek and Italian foods which I should have ordered. Lesson learnt.

Ambience-wise it seems a bit divey, but the food is at a fair price. Quite generous portions. They've a large array of menu options though obviously being a Jack of all trades, they're masters of none. Supposedly they're known locally for their chicken, so I got that.

Great "old school" diner with top notch service. The food was excellent. I ordered grilled pork chop and spinach pie and really, really loved the spinach pie. Can't wait to go back!!

Dinner for 32 people after a Memorial Service was exceptional. They were competent, timely and courteous. The food was done to perfection with large portions and tasty sides. Dessert was exactly what we asked for. Staff was so very kind and truly helpful. Thank you!

I attend a meeting here every month. Many of the attendees get there early enough to order breakfast prior to the meeting. Generally, the service and the food is good, the waitstaff is friendly, and all is well. Following a recent surgery, my appetite is considerably suppressed so today I placed an order for the smallest breakfast on the menu... 2 eggs any style, hash browns, and toast. I ordered wheat toast and the eggs poached.No, no, no!! Those eggs were NOT poached! They were more in fact wet, hard-boiled eggs without the shell. Grossly overcooked, both egg yolks were rock solid. I silently cursed and just ate them since there wasn't time to re-order before the meeting began but know this: a) I was extremely disappointed that the cook/chef didn't know how to poach an egg; and b) I'll never order poached eggs at this place again. You shouldn't either!!

I never knew this was more than an old school bar with your typical Greek diner on the right as you walk in so I thought I would try the breakfast.The place is half old school bar and half Greek diner and I had it bookmarked for the bar until I saw haw early they opened and wondered why they were open at 6 am so I looked at the menu and there was a breakfast menu so I'm there.The place has there own lot so parking is no problem at all. The place kind of looked like an old school steak house was my first impression so I didn't know what to expect when I walked in. There is a nice reverse E wood bar with the old school brass hand rail that wraps around it. Old school stools with the low back and a foot rest if the built in bar foot rest is too close for you. There is no transition from the bar to the diner, it's like someone drew a line in the room and one side is a bar and the other is a diner where you could film a two sided commercial in one scene.The diner is typical Greek style with the light wood, mirrors and purple pastel booths with music playing. The menu is not exactly the phone book Greek style but there is all the regulars with Mexican options also but I would have the Greek omelette for a change.The greek omelette was kind of the weirder ones because it is breakfast link sausage slices, onions, green peppers, tomatoes and feta cheese with the breakfast sausage out of place when gyro meat is on the menu which would make more sense but what ever. It comes with the generic three for toast and hash browns.The service was spot on at first and I was seated promptly and given a real glass of ice water and a menu, two people in the diner section all ready with there food so service should be pretty quick, nope my Greek omelette took over fifteen minutes to hit the table when I was the only person with an order at the time. My server never came back to see if I needed anything or if all was ok and when I was done a good 7 minutes passed before my check was dropped off so I sat there being patient wondering if she would ever return after dropping off my food.When the Greek omelette hit the table it actually smelled really good and looked pretty good with a crumble of feta poking out in the corner. The omelette was pretty tasty but gyro meat would have made for a better offering than breakfast sausage links that were skimpy and sliced razor thin, I think the fork was thicker and there was probably not one links worth of meat in the omelette, see my pictures. The omelette eggs were fluffy and moist, not one of those omelettes with the firm/dense eggs which I liked because it went well with the soft feta and the crunch of the veggies. The toast and hash browns were pretty average and I would have liked a more exotic toast offering like sourdough or something but Texas toast is a $1.95 up charge on the menu which seemed ridiculous when it's 25% of the whole breakfast that I ordered just for better toast, it was not offered as a standard toast option for my breakfast but it's in the extras section.Overall it's a solid average breakfast place with a menu that is a little quirky compared to most breakfast places and it hit the spot and worked but the skimpy razor thin sausage crap did drag the stars down.

Stopped in to try their fish fry today. We waited for at least 5 minutes for a waitress to yell "Sit anywhere you want." We picked a table and waited again (at least 10 minutes) then one waitress yelled to another "did you get table #8?" the response was no and then we were finally given menus. The soup seafood chowder smelled so bad I had to push it away to not smell it. My husband upgraded to french onion soup-it was not made with carmelized onions and was overseasoned with oregano? The fish fry itself was good, I had a philly cheese steak which was very good although the bun was burned. It was not busy at all, we won't be returning.